


Act III: Protectors

by Lopadopalis



Series: Yggdrasil [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Selves, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Redemption Arc, Attempted Suicide, Character Death, Fascism, Fire Powers, Incapacitations, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Strange Chapter Titles, Technically there are original characters here, The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy, There is an alternate Gamzee who is sane, War, but not in the way you think, gunfights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:06:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26358439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopadopalis/pseuds/Lopadopalis
Summary: A more direct sequel to my story Act I: Ascendance.Follows the four cyborg-ified versions of the Beta kids as they chase down the entity known as Shade.Also continues a plot line from my earlier story XX-Beta-12 as a primary antagonistic focus.
Relationships: Harry Anderson Egbert/Vriska Lalonde, Jade Harley/Dave Strider, Jane Crocker/Gamzee Makara, John Egbert/Roxy Lalonde, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Series: Yggdrasil [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805818
Comments: 20
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This can't be good.

XX-Beta-12 once had 75 gods. A long time ago, many of them were killed. There were 34 gods and one conglomerate. Then, they all fought. Then there were no gods and a single conglomerate of the 41 gods sent falling through the worlds. This entity would later fall into Universe “Five” after a lifetime of tumbling through the void. It was nothing like it once was. It was now only hate, and its hate became incarnate and the 41 manifestations of its hate became trapped by a newly arrived entity, one which had also come from Universe “Five”. Specifically, from a different timeline. This entity seemed conflicted in what it was doing, but was happy to break the ‘programming’ due to being ‘offscreen’. They left shortly afterwards, leaving 41 gods trapped in massive cages far beneath a Crockercorp facility in Alaska along with one hatred-driven monstrosity stuck down there with them. The newcomer’s pursuers are not far behind. This situation is simply to stall them.

As for the 41 gods, their influence, although contained beneath the earth, spreads into the facility above. People twist and scream as their minds and bodies shatter into new forms. A whole room of desk workers have their bones ground into dust. The security guys in the breaker room get turned into pink fog. That one asshole from accounting explodes into bloody remains. All of their corpses and fragments of corpses each become something new. Something terrifyingly inhuman and dangerous. They begin to move deeper into the bowels of the facility. The gods of XX-Beta-12 and their new spawn are not the only entities here, however. Several universal portals tear open for as long as a few seconds to several hours. A god with many arms lurks in the dark. A god of fire and brimstone scouts in the silence. A black hole in human form that sucks up the light around it darkens the day. And many others.

The chaos has only just begun.

CONTAINMENT MODULE RUNDOWN

  1. Cell 1; Codename Zephyrus
  2. Cell 2; Codename Diem
  3. Cell 3; Codename Veles
  4. Cell 4; Codename Kohoutek
  5. Cell 5; Codename Damma
  6. Cell 6; Codename Scylla
  7. Cell 7; Codename Icarus
  8. Cell 8; Codename Chixie
  9. Cell 9; Codename Zebedee
  10. Cell 10; Codename Darane
  11. Cell 11; Codename Cuprum
  12. Cell 12; Codename Hermod
  13. Cell 13; Codename Kasdeya
  14. Cell 14; Codename Charun
  15. Cell 15; Codename Polyp
  16. Cell 16; Codename Lamat
  17. Cell 17; Codename Okimaw
  18. Cell 18; Codename Daria
  19. Cell 19; Codename Skalbe
  20. Cell 20; Codename Surya
  21. Cell 21; Codename Ursa
  22. Cell 22; Codename Langue
  23. Cell 23; Codename Tisias
  24. Cell 24; Codename Excalibur
  25. Cell 25; Codename Tirona
  26. Cell 26; Codename Pythagoras
  27. Cell 27; Codename Seshat
  28. Cell 28; Codename Lovelace
  29. Cell 29; Codename Scalper
  30. Cell 30; Codename Ardata
  31. Cell 31; Codename Namaak
  32. Cell 32; Codename Nike
  33. Cell 33; Codename Artemisia
  34. Cell 34; Codename Exegesis
  35. Cell 35; Codename Kodak
  36. Cell 36; Codename Barzum
  37. Cell 37; Codename Bailey
  38. Cell 38; Codename Dionysus
  39. Cell 39; Codename Zoloto
  40. Cell 40; Codename Pierrot
  41. Cell 41; Codename Tethys



CONTAINMENT HOLDING STABLE

Down in Nevada, four figures appear in the centre of a random valley. They are wreathed in metal and bedazzled with weaponry.

“He was here.” the blonde woman of the group says.

“Yes, he was. Alaska.” the dark haired woman of the group adds.

“There is timeline structural damage.” the dark haired man says.

“Indeed Site-413. Shall we take a look?” the blonde man asks.

“Yes.” is all the dark haired man says. He takes to the sky with his jetpack and heads towards Alaska, the others following closely behind him.


	2. Where is everybody?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A checkup on where all of our main characters are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the more interesting story between Act II and Act III in my opinion for a variety of reasons.

Jane Crocker is, to say in the least, pissed off. She’s had to come up north to the cold and postpone her battle against the Alternian revolution to investigate the mysterious death of an entire Crockercorp facility for currently unknown reasons. There’s three ships already there, parked in the sky around the building, with troops all around the quiet site.

“So, what’s the deal?” she asks the military commander in charge. He flinches a little when he sees her, but disguises it as a shrug.

“No clue. Entire place just went dark.” he says. “We sent in a team an hour ago, but we lost contact with them.”

“Drones?” Jane asks.

“That’s where it gets really weird.” he says. “There are, uh… things down there.”

“Things?” Jane asks. “What things?”

“Monsters. Really bad ones.” he gulps.

“So you mean to tell me that you can’t handle a few monsters?” she asks sharply.

He shakes his head. “It’s not that. It’s what they do.”

“Alright, what do they do?” Jane asks impatiently.

“One of the guys looked at the drone feed, and the thing he saw, it-” he gasps for a moment, then continues. “It made his eyes bleed. He’s blind now.”

“What.” Jane says.

“Yeah, that’s a visual cognitohazard for ya.” a new, higher pitched voice says and they turn to see a man who looks rather like John, but younger, maybe in his early twenties. “Hi.” he says. “I’m private Shusen. I’m scouting for my organization cause we’re gonna set up a perimeter.”

“John? What the hell are you doing here?” Jane asks, almost growling.

“Well, I’m not John.” Shusen says in a rather perky voice. “Not technically. My name is Shusen. And I’m just a scout.”

“Kid, are you to do with those guys on the hill?” the commander asks.

“You betcha.” Shusen says.

“Ah, great.” the commander mutters as Shusen walks off humming to himself.

“Guys on the hill?” Jane asks, and the commander just points up at the nearby hills towards a group of soldiers who are definitely not Crockercorp troops just sitting up there.

“Who are they?” she asks.

He shrugs. “Nobody knows.”

“You better wrap this up, commander.” Jane says. “And fast. Because I got word that one of my platoons managed to catch a major rebellion leader. And I want to be there. I’ll be coming back in approximately 24 hours. This  _ better _ be all gone by then. Understood?”

“Understood.” the commander says, and gulps.

Jane turns and walks off back to her ship. The commander sighs.

“You look like you need a vacation, buddy.” Shsusen says, walking up next to him.

“Damn straight, kid.” the commander says. “Damn straight.”

John and Roxy aren’t entirely sure what to make of the sight, to see Harry, Tavros, Vrissy, and Vriska all sitting around Roxy’s living room, chatting. Vriska seems to have taken up a role as a sort of group leader. John can’t say he’s too surprised about that. Vriska always was rather domineering in nature. She seems to be telling everyone else what to do, rather unsurprisingly. The four of them seem to have built up a good rapport, although who ends up on the right end of things and who ends up on the wrong end of things remains an unfortunate constant, with Vriska always taking charge and Tavros being the social punching bag for the two bluebloods. John feels something strange in the air. A subtle shift in the fabric of reality. Something is coming, but he doesn’t know what yet. He’ll have to wait and see.

Karkat isn’t sure when Sollux arrived. But whatever happened, he just started walking around the resistance base, muttering to himself. He’s alone, so presumably Aradia fucked off somewhere. Karkat doesn’t care where. He’s busy trying to figure out Crockercorp’s next move with Meenah. Something feels very off right now. A bunch of their forces just hauled ass to Alaska, and a few hidden resistance bases have reported some pyromaniacs in their area with powers that appear to be on the same level as his friends with god tier. The world just keeps getting crazier with every passing day.

Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde-Harley, or as she prefers to be called, Ruby, was chained to a wall in Jane Crocker’s personal battleship five minutes ago, key word being was. Apparently Jake English got tired of Jane’s shenanigans and decided to steal his ecto relative and take her to safety. Or at least try to. The fact that she’s unconscious isn’t helping matters, and the fact that everyone on this whole planet knows his face isn’t helping either. He ends up hiding at John’s old house with her, where he puts her on the couch and puts together some semblance of a meal for her with his rudimentary cooking skills he got from Jane. The whole situation has him incredibly paranoid. A state of mind he’s definitely right to have.

Jade doesn’t think she’s ever seen Kanaya so mad. She’s cursing up a storm and is practically shouting orders for troops to search Rose’s last known location. She ducked out of base for what was meant to be a ten minute excursion that has since elongated itself to ten hours. All they could guess was that she had been captured, most likely as a bargaining chip. A second one alongside Jade’s daughter, of course. Everyone is freaking out, Kanaya most of all. Her rage has an undercurrent of crippling fear and worry, a bitter franticness. She exudes a vengeful aura that Jade does not want to be on the receiving end of.

Luckily for everyone, nobody will have to suffer her wrath.

Somewhere at a Crockercorp outpost, Rose Lalonde sits and waits for help to come.

Of course, help will arrive, but definitely not in the form that anyone expects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, it's an alternate John. With a high pitched voice.  
> Pyromaniacs!


	3. G.I Jane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gets rescued from Crockercorp's clutches by... an odd person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is meant to be an example of just how batshit crazy I plan to get.

A woman who looks an awful lot like Jane Crocker wanders towards the Crockercorp outpost masquerading as a small countryside town called Bridgenholme. It’s got about two dozen soldiers manning it, currently very proud of their most recent catch, rebellion leader Rose Lalonde. Of course, they aren’t going to be very proud in a couple of minutes. The woman who looks like Jane Crocker is not actually Jane Crocker, but is instead Jane Harley from the neighboring universe, Universe “Four” to this universe, Universe “Five”. She currently has several goals; A) free Rose Lalonde from Crockercorp’s clutches, B) give Jane Crocker a redemption arc, C) deal with the newly arrived God Complex, D) deal with the newly arrived pyromaniacs from K-R-Ignis, and E) get mad drunk. Not necessarily in that order.

She is currently on track to completing goal A. Of course, she knows better than to go unequipped for combat, so she’s brought an awful lot of weapons. She has a pair of knives in sheaths at her thighs, two pistols on her hips, two submachine guns in holsters on her lower back, a Z6 rotary blaster cannon strapped to her back along with a pair of katanas, one on each side of it, as well as twin shotguns next to those, their stocks sticking up past her shoulders, and is holding an M16. Plus, she’s got a pair of anomalous shades that increase badassery. Or at least that’s what her brother John said they did.

The soldiers there are surprised to see her casually saunter into the empty ‘town’, especially with so many guns. She cracks her neck and stares them down.

“Um…” the sergeant says, “Ma’am?”

“Not quite.” Jane says. “Do you really think she would use the guns herself?” Jane chuckles to herself. “I prefer Jay to Jane.”

She cocks the M16. “I’m here to move Miss Lalonde. This can go two ways.” The corporal shares a glance with the sergeant, who gulps. “Either you hand her over… or I have some fun. Do please, let me have some fun.”

The sergeant snarls. “Well clearly you’re not her, because she’s in Alaska. Saw it a minute ago.”

“There we go.” Jay says.

“So who are you?” The sergeant asks.

“The woman who’s gonna kick your asses unless you hand her over.” Jay says.

“Not if we shoot you first.” the sergeant says.

“I was hoping you would say that.” Jay says, and smiles. “Let’s do this.”

The sergeant is the first to draw his own M16 and take aim. She chuckles as she rolls sideways to dodge his shots and ducks behind a building.

“This is where the fun begins.” she mutters under her breath.

_ Now, I just have to try not to murder anyone. _

Bullets fly through the air, striking all the boards of wood. She sniffs the air once. Twenty two hostiles, plus one Rose Lalonde. She takes careful aim with her rifle and blasts a piece of wood holding some barrels in place aside, causing them to roll down and knock someone to the ground. 21 to go. One of them runs at her, shouting and firing his gun. She takes careful aim and blows out a storefront window near him. He flinches as glass cascades through the air, and then shouts when she shoots him in the foot, dropping him to the ground. 20 to go.

She trades bullets with a pair of soldiers hiding behind another building as she moves out into the open and ducks behind a truck. She reloads her clip, humming to herself, then fires underneath the vehicle, taking out the soldiers’ shins and dropping them to the ground. Two more fire at her from behind, so she spins around and gives them shoulder wounds. 16 to go. She calmly walks over past the first two soldiers, clutching their injured feet, and kicks their guns away from them. Opening up the door behind them, she walks into a room and knocks the soldier there out with a whack with the rifle stock. 15 to go. She smiles at Rose.

“Heya Rosie.” Jay says.

“Wh-Jane?” Rose asks, her voice not without an edge of hostility.

“Not quite.” Jay says. “Alternate universe Jane. See the eyes?” She gestures to her pupils, which are an ever changing mess of twisting cyan, as opposed to Jane’s standard brown eyes. “Plus, my name ain’t Crocker. ‘S Harley.” she adds.

“Jane Harley.” Rose repeats. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to deal with some extrauniversal threats, and also get drunk.” Jay says, then adds “I’m going by Jay for as long as I remain in this narrative as to differentiate between Jane and I.”

“So what are-” Rose starts, and Jay cuts her off by going over and breaking her handcuffs with a knife drawn from a sheathe on her leg.

“What?” Jay asks. “Anomalous knife. You guys don’t have those?” Rose stares at her in confusion, and Jay chuckles. “I’m kidding. I know you guys don’t have them.”

Jay slides the knife back into her sheath and gestures for Rose to follow her. She pushes the door open once more and the two of them walk outside. Bullets spray through the air, and they both jump behind a stone pillar.

“Hag!” the soldier shooting at them shouts. Jay licks her index finger, puts it in the air as if feeling for the wind, and fires her last M16 bullet in a seemingly random direction, where it ricochets off a pipe and blows up a flowerpot on a ledge, sending the second flowerpot down on top of the soldier’s head, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.

“Fascist.” Jay shoots back, and drops her M16 to the ground. She gestures for Rose to follow her. Jay is humming to herself when five soldiers run in front of them, the sergeant leading them.

“Stand down, whoever you are!” he shouts. “Put your hands in the air!”

Jay sighs, gives a sarcastic nod, and reaches her hands up to her back to pull off the rotary blaster cannon she’s been carrying around this whole time. She smirks as it winds up and the faces of the four soldiers next to the sergeant fall. The sergeant grits his teeth, and is the last of them to dodge to the side. Jay shouts the whole way as she fires after them, none of the laser shots hitting anything but glass, wood, and stone, but all of them scaring the crap out of the five soldiers, all of whom get taken down by all the debris falling on them from the destroyed stores they’ve dived into. Jay then focuses on the truck down the street, finally setting its fuel ablaze and blowing it to bits.

“That’s nine left, by the way.” she says. “Hopefully we won’t see any more of them.”

On cue, one of the nine conscious soldiers sprints out of a building, spraying bullets. Jay sighs.

“Too much to hope for.” she mutters.

She throws the cannon in the man’s face, knocking him out, and then hands Rose a pair of sunglasses. Rose is hesitant at first, but shrugs and puts them on. Jay pulls out the two shotguns also on her back, and hands one of them to Rose. They cock the shotguns.

“Take those just in case.” Jay says. “They give you plot armour.”

“Is it me, or are these sunglasses what are making you so badass?” Rose asks. “Because that’s what it feels like.”

Jay nods. “You betcha. They’re anomalous sunglasses. +10 badassery.”

“Riiight.” Rose says.

The two of them walk down the cobblestone streets, checking every building. They are greeted with two soldiers with M16s firing at them. They duck behind a building as the bullets fly through the air, and they fire back at their aggressors.

“Remember not to kill anybody.” Jay says over the sound of gunfire.

“What?” Rose asks, confused. “They’re fascists.”

“They’re  _ people _ .” Jay responds. “I get the feeling that half of them are just doing their jobs.”

“Alright, fair enough.” Rose says.

The two of them trade bullets with the soldiers, and Jay turns when she hears something.

“Move!” she shouts, grabbing Rose’s shoulder and dragging her out of the way as one of the soldiers on a nearby rooftop takes aim with his 50. Caliber machine gun and starts spraying metal everywhere. Jay fires a shot and takes down one of the two soldiers with a kneecapping, and Rose takes a second shot that knocks the second one to the ground with a shoulder shot. Jay throws her shotgun out into the open, draws both of her SMGs, and runs out after it, firing bullets at the soldier manning the 50. Cal. he dodges to the side and she drops the empty guns, using the opening to pick up the shotgun and sprint inside the building. Once she reaches the roof, she shoots him in the calf with the gun and knocks him out with a smack. She goes back down to Rose and gives a thumbs up.

“If there’s anyone else out there,” Jay shouts, “You’d do best not to come out. Clear?”

No response.

“Come on Rose.” Jay says, and the two of them walk over to a truck, get into it, and start driving down the road, heading for the rebellion’s base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just one of the first of many alternate versions of main characters that we'll see.


	4. Question of the Day: What Happened to Site-413?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crockercorp Commander talks with some... odd characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are many John Egberts.

Commander Everett Hughes has worked with Crockercorp for five years, and in that time he’s seen plenty of weird things. This morning, he saw the second weirdest thing in his lifetime; the mighty Site-413 turned into some kind of hell, according to the soldiers who went inside. Now, he’s looking at the weirdest thing he’s ever seen in his lifetime; a new army of soldiers, all of which resemble the gods of Earth C, mainly John Egbert, the Heir of Breath. The two generals in charge, who both look like John, apparently want access to Site-413, because they need to quarantine it and deal with it in their own way.

“So you’re generals Copper and Brass?” Hughes asks the two men sitting in front of him. The first one of them is a redhead with scars all over him, while the other has dark black hair and even darker eyes. He’s also got a battleaxe on his back.

“I’m Copper,” the redhead says, “Which of course makes him Brass. He’s got a bit of a temper.”

“I dunnae have a temper.” Brass growls at him in a scottish accent. Copper raises his eyebrows. “Look laddie,” Brass says to Hughes, “If you could just move your forces, it would make things easier for all of us.”

“Why exactly do you want us to move our forces again, generals?” Hughes asks.

“Because we need to quarantine the damn place.” Brass says.

“What he said.” Copper says. “We’ve got to make sure that nothing gets out.”

“Why? What’s in there?” Hughes asks.

“If my hypothesis is correct… nothing good.” Copper says. “Gods. Real gods. Things that could wipe this planet out without even trying. And they’re angry.”

“They want to kill all ye poor bastards.” Brass adds.

“And if my guess is correct, than there’s definitely something else in there; something that could fuck up this whole universe, nevermind this planet.” Copper says.

“So let us move in, or we’ll force your hand.” Brass growls.

“Now, Brass, behave yourself.” Copper calmly says to him.

Brass sighs. “Can never have any fun with this lad.” he says.

“Regardless, please move your forces.” Copper says, turning back to Hughes. “Because if something gets outside the confines of that extra dimensional space, we’re gonna have ourselves a great big stinking problem. And then we could all die.”

“What will you do?” Hughes asks.

“Surround the place. Set up some technological and magical defenses. Send in some teams with special tech. Sweep the floors. Throw the site out of your world.” Copper says.

“Hopefully without ending it.” Brass mutters, and Copper chuckles.

“I would certainly like to avoid such an outcome.” the redhead says.

_ Oh, what the hell _ . Hughes thinks, and pulls up his communications. “Hey boys and girls, clear out, I’m fairly certain the boys on the hill can take this one.” he says.

“Are you sure, commander?” his second-in-command asks.

“I’m sure. Clear em out.” Hughes says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is a reference lol  
> That was easy.  
> I think I might have made Brass a walking scottish stereotype.


	5. "Real Freedoms"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Jane chats with the resistance and then chats with the normal Jane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Act III gets progressively stupider in various areas.

Jay is unsurprised to have several dozen weapons aimed at her head when she follows Rose inside the rebellion base. The first thing she does is drop her shotgun, both of her katanas, both her knives, and both her pistols. The second thing she does is pull out a cup of coffee from her sylladex and lounge in a swivel chair. She takes a good long sip before even addressing anyone else in the room.

“Surprise.” she says in the most deadpan voice possible.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you now.” Kanaya says.

“Well, why haven’t you?” Jay asks. No response from anyone. “You could have filled me with lead the second I stepped into this building.” she leans forward. “But you haven’t. Why?”

Kanaya shifts uneasily.

“I tossed aside all my weapons and sat in your chair, making myself a good target for… how many?” Jay licks her finger and holds it in the air. “No less than seventeen rebels including yourself. I should by all rights be dead by now. But I ain’t. Hazard a guess, anyone?”

The silence hanging in the air is only interrupted by a soldier cocking his shotgun.

“It’s because Jane Crocker is in Neo-Washington D.C.” Jay says. “We’re in Maine.” she pauses. “Either that or Canada. Can’t tell. But I digress.” Jay takes another sip.

Jay stands, and Kanaya backs up a little bit. “Which means,” she pauses to gulp, “That if she’s in Washington, and I’m up here… well. I ain’t her, now then, am I?”

“Your eyes…” Kanaya mutters.

“Crazy eyes.” Jay says. “She has brown eyes. I have… these.”

“So who are you?” Kanaya hesitantly asks.

“Me?” Jay asks. “I’m going by Jay to narratively differentiate, but my real name is Jane Harley. I’m here to redeem Jane Crocker, save the world, and also get drunk.”

“... What.” Kanaya says.

“Ignore that last bit.” Jay adds. “But the first two are important.”

“Alright.” Kanaya says. “I will pretend that I believe that you are good.”

“You don’t have to believe that I’m anything.” Jay says. “But you do have to trust me on this.” she pauses for a second, then speaks again. “Anyway, I’m off to kickstart Jane’s redemption arc. See you!” she moves her hand in a circular motion, and a portal appears in front of her. She steps through it and it closes behind her.

Jane Crocker is pissed off for a number of reasons; Site-413 has gone dark and now a whole bunch of John clones have taken over her operations, there’s something about pyromaniacs screwing with her bases, Jake went rogue for the second time and stole Ruby this time, apparently an alternate universe version of herself freed Rose, thus leaving her down both her bargaining chips, and to top it all off, said alternate universe self is sitting in her chair.

“Get out of my chair.” Jane says firmly.

“No.” Jay says. “I have a question for you.”

“Get out or I’m calling the guards.” Jane says.

“Well you probably should have done that before.” Jay mutters, then asks “Have you ever considered any  _ real _ freedoms?”

“What?” Jane asks after a silence.

“I said,” Jay says slightly impatiently, “Have you ever considered any real freedoms?”

“What do you mean?” Jane asks.

“Have you ever gone to the pub?” Jay asks. “Taken some time off from work? Slowed down for even once in your life? Girl, you’re wound tight, stretched like a rubber band. You should ease back before you snap.”

“You…” Jane says. “I’ve got work to do. I can’t step off for a second.”

“Well sure, but I can bring us back to the day before we left, for goodness sake.” Jay argues. “Come on, Jane. Ease for once in your life.”

Something subtle changes in Jane’s head. Not that she realizes. She finally speaks. “Alright.”

Jay smiles. “Alright. Come on. Pub time.”

“Pub time?” Jane asks, confused. Jay opens a portal in the air in response, and steps through it. Jane pauses, but steps after her alternate self.

The next few hours are a blur. When Jane comes to, she finds that she and Jay sit down on a hill overlooking NuSeattle. The sun is rising. Through the haze of her drunkenness, the realization hits Jane like a train.

“Oh my god.” she slurs out, “I’m such a fascist.”

“Yes you are.” Jay says. “I may have slipped something in your drink.”

“I should probably try and fix some things.” Jane mutters. “Right some wrongs.”

“Well, once your hangover is gone, go ahead.” Jay says.

Jay stumbles away, and Jane flops onto her back and stares at the sky.

She  _ really _ has to change her ways.

Elsewhere, the aforementioned version of Gamzee Makara steps through a portal.

“Oh dear, Jane.” he says in a british accent. “What are you doing?” he raises his eyebrows and starts walking. “Only one way to find out.” he mutters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jay, you're a drunkard.  
> Here's sane Gamzee.


	6. It's been a little bit since the last time we all talked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The resistance chats with alternate selves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue. This chapter is everyone talking at each other.

Rose, Jade, Karkat, Kanaya, Vriska, and Meenah are standing in a briefing room. Sollux is in the corner and John is standing outside the circle of sorts. They’re all staring at Jay, who’s slumped in a swivel chair at the far end of the room, out cold and looking completely hammered.

“Well?” Vriska says.

“Well what?” Rose asks.

“Are we gonna talk about the second Jane over there?” Vriska asks.

“She looks proper drunk.” Meenah adds. “How the shell’d she end up here anyway?”

“She portaled in.” Karkat says. “Because apparently she can just do that.”

“She’s also nothing like our Jane.” Rose observes. “She is, I’m guessing, an alcoholic. She also seems to be having way too much fun with all this, and actually seems to give a shit about anybody besides herself.”

“So she’s from a different timeline?” Jade wonders aloud.

“A bit more than that!” a new voice calls in a british accent, and they see the alternate version of Gamzee opening the doors to the room and going to Jane. He’s dressed in black kevlar like that worn by a SWAT officer. He also has no face paint on, and there are weird metal brace-like objects on his forearms. “Yes, this can get crazier.” he says without looking at them.

“Get out.” Karkat growls.

“No.” Gamzee retorts. “Gotta check on this one.” he pauses before adding “I take it you want me dead because you assume that I’m as bad as the last one.” he scoffs.

“Are you british?” Rose asks.

“Of course I’m british.” Gamzee says. He gestures wildly. “‘Oh look, it’s Makara. He’s british’. Of course I’m fucking british. Born and raised. Bloody hell.”

“Hold on, are you actually speaking coherently?” Sollux says from the corner.

“Yes I am.” Gamzee says. “Surprise! Must be a miracle.” he proceeds to laugh to himself and then mutters “Why are so many of me insane?”

“Do you really expect us to trust you?” Kanaya asks.

“I don’t expect you to do anything.” Gamzee says. “Regardless, I’ve gotta take this one-” he gestures to Jay, “-Back home. She’s off on it.”   
“No I’m not.” Jay suddenly says, rubbing the back of her head and stumbling to her feet.

“Yes, you are.” Gamzee accuses. His voice strains as he speaks. “You do this every time, Jay.”

“No I don’t.” Jay argues, and he sighs, rubbing his forehead.

“Yes, you do.” Gamzee says. “You recover from an alcoholic phase, say you’re going to AA, then you never do, because you’re off in another universe, drinking more beer.”

“One of these days, I’m gonna drink from one pub in every layer of Zulu-58.” Jay says, seemingly oblivious to his comment.

“How far into that are you then?” he asks reflexively.

She pauses, rolls her tongue across her lips as she rocks back and forth. “4326. 4674 to go.”

Gamzee facepalms. “God, Janey, you really have it bad.” he groans.

“Alright, what the fuck is going on?” Karkat asks.

Gamzee sighs. “My  _ wife _ is being a dick to me again because she’s still semi-drunk, isn’t she?” he asks, looking her in the eyes.

“No I’m not.” Jay says.

“Yes you are.” Gamzee says. “You always are.” there’s a sorrow in his voice. “I’m trying to help you, Jay. Please. Just don’t run off on me, alright?”

Jay pauses. “Right-o.” she finally says, and then sits down again, spinning around in the swivel chair. “Can I at least sober up first?” she asks in an innocent tone.

“Yes, fine.” Gamzee says. “But listen, Jay, we really need to sort your life out.”

“I ain’t promising in front of the locals.” Jay says, stealing a glance at the others in the room.

“Fine, then later.” Gamzee says.

“Deal.” Jay says. “Cornetto?” she asks.

“Uh, here.” Gamzee says, pulling out a sylladex shaped object from one of his pockets, searching through it, and pulling out a red-wrapped ice cream cone and handing it to her. She peels off the top and stares at the ceiling as she eats quietly. Gamzee looks at the others and mouths ‘hangover cure’ to them.

“ … Your wife!?” Vriska shouts in confusion. “Sorry, what!?”

“Take it that didn’t happen with y’all.” Gamzee says after a pause.

“Yeah, no fucking shit!” Karkat growls.

“Ha.” Gamzee mutters. “It’s a crazy multiverse, isn’t it? There’s a lot out there. So what’s the deal with Jane in this world specifically? They’re all rather different.”

“She’s a fascist.” Rose helpfully supplies.

“Oh, wonderful. One of those again.” Gamzee mutters.

“Why the everloving fuck is Jane Crocker your wife?” Karkat half-growls.

“Because I’m not a fascist.” Jay says. “And he’s not a sopor-zombie.”

“And also other circumstances.” Gamzee says. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Why exactly are you here?” Kanaya asks.

“What, you mean apart from this one?” Gamzee asks. “Well, word is there’s some other disturbances. Have you guys heard any weird reports recently? Cause the detachment in Alaska hasn’t heard nada.”

“Alaskan detachment?” Meenah asks. “The shell’s that?”

“Not important to your interests. Have any of you seen anything?” Gamzee asks.

“You seem almost like you expect something.” Jade says.

“It’s my job to expect things.” Gamzee says, smiling.

“Well, we have been getting reports of people with fire powers.” Rose says.

Gamzee’s smile falls instantly and he tenses. “You… what?” he half-growls out in a low voice.

“Does that mean something to you?” Jade asks.

Gamzee grits his teeth. “Yes.” he mutters.

Jay jumps to her feet and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Hey.” she says. “Don’t you lose it on me now. Alright?”

“Alright.” he mutters, his fists still clenched. He massages his brow with his thumb and sighs. “This is just great, isn’t it? They’re always everywhere.” he pauses, sighs, then looks at everyone around the table. “Right. I hope you know everyone’s phone numbers, because we’re gonna need to get all the gods together before they pick all of you off.”

“This day just gets weirder and weirder, doesn’t it?” Vriska says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> British Gamzee enough said  
> "They're always everywhere" the same can be said for all the other elemental people, as they will become increasingly noticeable throughout this series, trying their best to be in the spotlight. Just stop it you assholes. Leave it alone.


	7. something something containment breach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inside Site-413, numerous UMF scout teams search.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we look at side characters. Ish.

**GOD COMPLEX SCOUT FORCE #32**

Sergeant Seamus Crocker - Male John

Corporal Janice - Female John 

Corporal Andrea - Female Rose

PFC Thia - Female Aranea

PFC Sartoris - Male Jake

Private Rose-15 - Female Rose

Private “Tekken” - Male Dave

Private Shusen - Male John

Private Kelson - Male John

The nine soldiers creep through the bowels of the changed Site-413. The geography is uncertain and ever changing. For example, earlier they went through a hallway that changed shape shortly afterwards. The area they’re currently in has black goop covering the walls.

“What do you think this stuff is?” Tekken asks.

“Smells like oil.” Kelson says in that Bristol accent of his. “Mixed with… I don’t know what that is.” he sniffs, and shrugs.

“So what are we looking for?” Thia asks.

“God, Thia, it’s not that hard to remember.” Janice says. “The fucking teleportation machine.”

“The Master Switch.” Seamus says in his british accent. “That’s what it’s called.”

“What, and we flip a few switches, press a few buttons, and the whole thing goes away?” Sartoris asks. “Just like that, presto?”

“It’s not that simple.” Seamus says. “And quiet down, be silent. We’re not the only things in here. This place is pa-cked with demons of all shapes and sizes.”

“Oh, and don’t forget that our secondary goal is to save any civilians we find.” Andrea says.

“What makes you think we’ll find any?” 15 says. “This place is dead.”

“Would you quit it with the nihilism?” Shusen asks. “You make me nervous sometimes. You’re so nihilistic.”

“You’re being repetitive again, Shusen.” Tekken says.

“Ssh!” Seamus suddenly says. “Quiet. Do you hear that?”

Everyone goes silent and stiffens.

_Bang_

_Clang_

_Crash_

_Bang_

“The pipes.” Seamus says. “It’s in the pipes.”

“Oh, not good. Not again.” Tekken says.

“Not again? What do you mean, not again?” Janice asks.

“I encountered these things before.” Tekken says. “High mortality rate.”

“Run.” Seamus says. When the others don’t react, he turns and shouts “RUN!”

That seems to get them moving backwards, soon sprinting and then running away from whatever it is that is crashing through the pipes. But they soon find themselves against a wall that wasn’t there a moment ago, a wall covered in black goo just like everywhere else.

“Fuck, we’re trapped.” Sartoris mutters.

“Be careful.” Seamus says. “Guns up.”

They aim at the hallway as the sound of banging pipes gets closer and closer until it goes silent with a hiss. “Where is it?” Kelson mutters, and that’s when Andrea screams. They all turn and see the Rose being lifted up by something literally coming out of the wall, covered in the oily substance. It hisses and rams a long sharp claw through Andrea’s back, causing her to choke and cough up blood before going limp. It drops her and leaps out of the wall, spitting an acidic substance from its mouth that catches Thia in the eyes, causing her to scream before it whips its sharpened tail and knocks her jaw off, cutting her throat. It looks like a velociraptor, if a velociraptor had no eyes, a sharpened tail, and long claws. It hisses.

“Open fire!” Seamus shouts, and the others don’t need to be told twice, spraying bullets everywhere and causing the thing to bleed a viscous blue substance. It drops to the floor, dead. Two more of the creatures seem to emerge from the wall.

“My god, they’re phasing.” Sartoris says.

“They can phase!” 15 shouts in a panic.

The things charge, and Sartoris breaks ranks as he charges out past the hallway, shouting “They’re coming outta the goddamn walls!” as indeed, several more of the things exit the walls. Too bad for him that they end up getting him, judging by the screams.

“Sartoris!” Seamus shouts. “Sartoris!”

Janice throws a grenade down the hall to try and blow away some of the creatures. However, the blast ignites some of the oily substance, and the walls catch fire. Janice is thrown backwards and her neck breaks on the stony floor. The five others back up in a defensive circle, trying to ignore their burn marks and aiming at the half dozen creatures around them.

“We’re screwed aren’t we?” 15 says. “We’re fucked!”

“This sure went pear-shaped fast!” Tekken shouts.

“Fuck, we’re dead!” Kelson rants. “We’re just going to be another statistic on a graph!”

“I don’t think that’s how that works!” Shusen shouts.

Just then, the wall behind them disappears, and in its way is a hallway. “Go, go, go!” Seamus shouts, and they run down it. The creatures give chase, but it’s not long before the hallway inexplicably seals itself off behind them. They keep running, oblivious to the fact that their radio is not functioning anymore.

“So you’ve lost contact with all the groups sent in?” Copper asks, and Brass nods.

“A few of the lads just had their radios go dark, but the rest of them…” Brass trails off.

“Oh, great.” Copper says. “I hope the Ouroboros Knights get here soon to help clean up this mess, whatever it’s called, something something Containment Breach.”

“I just hope we can get this thing out of here as soon as possible.” Brass says.

“Do I ever feel you.” Copper says. They go back to listening for any communications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side characters, go! They may become more important over the course of this story.  
> The God Complex (the thing in Site-413) is nasty.


	8. Are you sitting comfortably?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone attempts to get in contact with everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where things get slightly more serious as we edge away from ridiculous.

RELEVANTS HEADCOUNT

  * John Egbert
  * Rose Lalonde
  * Jade Harley
  * Jane Crocker
  * Roxy Lalonde
  * Jake English
  * Harry Anderson Egbert-Lalonde
  * Vrissy Lalonde
  * Tavros Crocker
  * Ruby Lalonde-Harley
  * Sollux Captor
  * Karkat Vantas
  * Kanaya Maryam
  * Vriska Serket
  * Calliope



“So that’s everyone then.” Rose says.

“Yeah.” Gamzee says, staring across the list of names. “That’s everyone.”

“So Jake and… Ruby are at John’s old house.” Rose says. “Calliope lives in the mountains. And who knows where Jane could be. Do we really have to help her?”

“Every timeline is supposed to go a certain way.” Gamzee says. “Every place has its Alpha. And this timeline? It’s supposed to go a very specific way. Jane has to be alive for that.”

“Hasn’t it already been sent off-kilter by the influence of outside forces?” Rose asks.

“Yeah, but nobody’s died yet.” Gamzee says.

“I thought you said you could bring people back from the dead five minutes ago.” Rose says.

“Oh yeah, we can do that.” Gamzee says. “But it can be rather pricey. Besides, even for Relevants like me and Jane, they can’t spare everything. Probably because we’re going to invade an entire planet in a month or so.”

“You’re going to what?” Rose asks.

“Doesn’t matter. Point is, we can’t spare resources.” Gamzee says. “Most of the stuff has already been shipped out, and there’s not a lot left behind. We might be able to spare something, but… maintaining timelines and repairing minor damages is low on the list.”

“Didn’t you come here for the ‘K-R-Ignis’ invasion?” Rose asks.

“No.” Gamzee says. “We came here for the God Complex. Site-413. Generals Copper and Brass only came out because they wanted to ‘see’ it for themselves. Beyond that?” the purple blood shrugs. “No reason. K-R-Ignis is a side thing. Sure, they might come and help mop up, but given the fact that this timeline has what it has, it should be able to wrap this up. Most of the time, K-R’s only there for show.”

“What, so our lives are irrelevant?” Rose asks.

“Dare I say, in some cases, yes.” Gamzee says. “I don’t know. We’re not like any conventional military, any general would be appalled at how we work, and our ethics aren’t the best. It’s all run by 13 people sitting at desks and occasionally showing in the field.” there’s a pause. “Should probably get to making those calls.”

Elsewhere, Kanaya is reading reports when she hears someone step into the room.

“Hello Kanaya.” a voice says sweetly. Kanaya flinches. It sounds like Rose, but there’s a strange undertone to it, something darker. She slowly turns. It looks like Rose, but it has burning orange eyes instead of Rose’s violet eyes. She instinctively knows in that moment that this can’t be Rose, especially given the fact that she’s carrying a tomahawk of some kind.

“What are you?” Kanaya asks.

Rose tilts her head to the side and smiles. “I’m Rose Lalonde from a world now lost to the inferno that is K-R-Ignis.” Kanaya takes a step backwards as Rose steps forwards. “Afraid?” Rose asks tauntingly. “Or do you not want to hurt me?”

Alt-Rose certainly has her there.

Rose twirls the tomahawk in her hands and steps towards Kanaya, licking her lips. Kanaya backs up against the wall as Rose’s eyes literally begin to smoke as they burn like fire. Rose suddenly stops dead and her smile disappears instantly. She drops to the floor to reveal Jay holding a bloody knife. Jay gives a little wave and then stabs Ignis Rose a few more times for good measure.

“Can’t believe this one somehow made it all the way in.” Jay says. “They must be getting sneaky. Weird, Ignis have never really been sneaky. I suppose the gang is trying new things.”

“The gang?” Kanaya hesitantly asks.

“Yeah, the rest of these flaming fucks.” Jay says.

It takes Roxy multiple phone calls throughout the day to finally reach Calliope.

“Roxy?” Calliope asks.

“Callie.” Roxy says. “Are you alright?”

“Not exactly.” Calliope says after a long pause. “Something’s definitely not right in the town that I’m in. Ever since last week, the people are…” she trails off.

“Callie, I don’t think you’re safe there.” Roxy says. “We’re coming to you, alright?”

“Please stay safe, Roxy.” Calliope says.

At around the same time, Karkat and Meenah sit and watch a news broadcast as three Crockercorp ships get ripped apart by explosions in sync with one another. Gamzee stands behind them, staring.

“Jesus.” Karkat mutters. “How big do you say they make their invasion forces?”

“1000 to 5000 strong.” Gamzee says. “And if they’ve already skipped to blowing ships out of the sky and infiltrating ranks, it means that they’re winding up for attacks on all of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit will hit the fan soon, I promise.  
> There goes Ignis Rose, several others to go!  
> Also, 1000 to 5000. Woof. Imagine dealing with 1000 to 5000 pyromaniacs with axes. Oh wait.


	9. The Sewers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four cyborgs wander through a dead facility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring Site-13!

Four cyborgs touch down on the Alaskan ground.

“Glad to see you fellas could make it.” Copper says. “Sounds like they’re getting hammered in there. We lost contact with everybody."

“Most teams are dead, but there might be a few in there.” Brass says. “Although judging by the screams the lads were making… that’s debatable.”

“Always be hopeful.” Copper says. “One of them set up a beacon for everyone to hone in on, which should help you find them. Apparently one of them found the device, but they couldn’t get to it because of… threats.”

“We trust you boys and girls can get this one.” Brass says.

“I must say, it is rather curious that we’d have an assignment so similar to one we have had before.” Hradra says.

“Mimicry.” Brass says, shrugging. “Something to do with that top secret project.”

“Yeah, every time whatever it is so much as brushes a world, plotlines are everywhere.” Copper says. He chuckles. “Nuts.”

“How will we proceed?” The Rose-like Hami asks.

“You’ll go through the sewers.” Copper. “The side drainage gate.”

“That worked fine last time.” Hart says, and she smirks.

“Apparently the multiverse has become insistent that we retread old steps.” Hulliol adds.

Ten minutes later, they’re in the sewers of the facility, wading through a fluid that’s a mixture of some black oily substance, water, blood, and something else. It’s disgusting, but they aren’t in the least bothered by it. They track one of two beacons through the dark, the second one much deeper into the facility but stronger, while the other is closer yet fainter. They eventually find a hatch leading up and look around to find it leads into some sort of old storage room for some reason. One of the four walls is soaked in red, presumably liquified gore. Creeping through, they pass some offices and find a few bodies. There are corpses that have been wrapped in white sacks of some kind that wrap around them like webbing. Their eyes have been covered, but their mouths are open and leaking copious amounts of blood.

“I do wonder what did that.” Hulliol says.

“Let us hope we do not find it.” Hradra says. “Those soldiers have waited long enough, and this facility is still a ticking time bomb. Let’s follow the beacon.”

They continue onwards, passing through a rather large room where they find two abnormally large grey locusts conversing in Russian. Their brains automatically translate the language and it turns out they’re talking about the many flavours of tea. They seem oblivious to the presence of the four cyborgs as they perch atop a balcony.

“That was odd.” Hami says as they leave the room.

“All sorts of anomalies did end up here.” Hulliol says. “This place is a dumping ground, after all.”

“Stop.” Hradra says, and they instinctively stop dead in their tracks. “Up ahead.”

In the room ahead of them, there are several snail shaped giant robots, most of them about the size of a soccer ball. They are scraping metal scraps on the ground into their grinding maws with needle-thin metal arms. The more metal they eat, the bigger they get. One of them is about the size of a person.

“What would these be?” Hart wonders aloud.

“An obstacle.” Hradra says, and raises his right hand, which transforms into a grenade launcher. He fires several shots into the room and the group steps away from it as the things are exploded into slag. The human-sized one is still partially alive, so Hart raises her rifle and fires several shots into it, causing it to stop moving. They continue onwards.

The first sign of trouble that really gives them pause is the giant bloody gears coming out of the wall seemingly from nowhere.

“Bloody gears. That’s familiar.” Hami says. “Anyone else?”

“The Mechanical Singularity.” Hulliol says. “It is quite possible they could be here.”

“Do you hear that?” Hart asks, and they listen closely. The sound of grinding gears is echoing closer and closer. They run out of the room just in time to avoid the large machine that seems to be made entirely of gears grinding together.

“A Heart.” Hradra says as it crashes through the other wall and then disappears into the distance. “Ironically, I suppose this is the best place for it to be.”

“Away from civilization.” Hart says.

“God help this place if it gets out.” Hulliol says.

“Then let us hope that it does not.” Hami says.

“Come.” Hradra says. “We must keep moving.”

They ignore the banging and screaming in the pipes as they continue through the hallways. They open the double doors to a large room and they all flinch. There’s an entity beyond with 16 arms (eight on each side), which split into 32 forearms, and then into 64 hands. It has no head, instead it has a triangular shaped object hovering above the stump of its neck. A sound like a drum beating emanates from its head.

“It… can’t be.” Hradra trails off.

As the thing’s triangular head slowly turns to them, the four of them actually use their jetpacks to get away, trying to escape. It leaves them alone, doing whatever it was doing.

“If it isn’t Entity 86243AR-001.” Hulliol says as they come to a stop.

“We’re going to have to take another way around to get to the beacon.” Hami says.

So, they take a side hall instead, taking the long way around that large room to get to their destination. On their way, a voice comes through the speakers talking in garbled Ukranian about ending the world or whatever. But they soon arrive at the room containing the beacon. Slowly opening the door to find it barricaded, Hradra speaks up.

“Hello?” he asks.

“Are we too late?” Hulliol asks.

A head pokes out over the barricade. “Jesus Christ.” Seamus says. “What took you so long?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole place is filled with weird shit.


	10. Greenpoint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes looking for Calliope in the mountains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignis. Ignis everywhere...

“Why the hell are we driving again?” John asks as they drive in Roxy’s 6-seater van into the mountains, not far from Roxy’s house in fact. Roxy’s driving, John’s riding shotgun, and Jay and Gamzee are in the backseat. Gamzee’s fiddling with the brace-looking objects on his forearms.

“Because A), neither of the two of us can fly, and B)...” Gamzee trails off. “This is more inconspicuous. Plus, they don’t really like it when you fly.”

“The others might not have a problem with it, but these ones?” Jay says. She tsks.

“Callie said that the people have been getting weirder in town.” Roxy says.

“They might have planted a few people.” Gamzee says. “Blended in. They do that every now and then, although I don’t see Ignis do it as often.”

“I wonder if they’re filling in the old roles.” Jay says.

“What do you mean by that?” John asks.

“Well, one of the strangest things about the takeovers of the worlds that would become the K-R Kingdoms is what they did after.” Jay says. “It was like a total  _ Bodysnatchers _ move. The whole planet got turned into slaves, and they apparently just went about their old lives like nobody’s business.” she shrugs. “Only change was that there was world peace and they periodically selected people from the populace to raid other universes.”

“Wow, that sounds…” John trails off. “Pretty nasty, actually.”

“Tell me about it.” Gamzee says. “They’re all mind slaves now. And the worst bit? They’ve been mentally reprogrammed to like it.”

They soon drive past the town’s sign, naming it  _ Greenpoint _ . As Roxy drives, staring only forwards with no regard for what’s happening behind them, although the other three notice the fact that the townsfolk are stepping onto the streets and watching their car drive away with vacant stares in complete silence with little to no reactions. Simply watching.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the edge of town and find a single solitary house at the end of the road on the edge of town, just sitting there. Roxy gets out when they stop next to it, goes over, and pauses at the door. The others stay inside, but stare around. The locals are staring at them. Roxy knocks on the door. A brief silence before it opens a crack.

“Roxy?” Calliope asks.

“Callie.” Roxy says, gulping. “It’s been a little while, hasn’t it?”

“I suppose it has.” Calliope says.

“Anyway, we should probably get out of here.” Roxy says. “This place isn’t looking too good.”

“Yes, everyone’s looking at us.” Calliope says.

“They’re staring at us.” John says as he stares out the car window before looking back at his phone and squinting as he reads through the news.

“Not good.” Jay says. “They’ve done nothing but stare at us.”

“Which means that at least a good amount of them could be doubles.” Gamzee mutters.

“I think this whole town might even be a plant.” Jay says.

“Um.” John says as he stares at his phone.

“What?” Jay asks.

“The, uh, original Jane just decided to pull her forces everywhere.” John says. “Crockercorp is pulling back on just about all of its frankly fascist policies.”

“Told you it would work.” Jay says.

“You do know that the last time you tried this, it didn’t end well?” Gamzee asks.

“Yeah, well it’s probably going to work out in this one.” Jay says.

“What do you mean last time? What didn’t end well?” John asks.

Just then, Roxy and Calliope step into the car, with Roxy taking the wheel and Calliope sitting in the very back seat. “Let’s roll.” Roxy says.

“Are they… smiling?” John suddenly asks.

“Oh, fuck.” Jay says. “Roxy, get us out of here quickly.”

“What the hell does smiling have to do with anything?” John asks as Roxy turns the car around and starts driving past the other houses and planted people.

“It’s like how a cat’s eyes will get big and it’s tail will start wagging when they get excited to play with prey.” Gamzee says. “They smile.”

“I’ve never seen them this robotic before.” Jay says. “This is organized. Ignis doesn’t do organized, so what the fuck are they doing?”

“Oh.” Gamzee suddenly says, clarity passing over his face.

“Oh?” John asks. “Oh what?”

“This is their base.” Gamzee says. “And we’re right in the thick of it.”

“So long as their eyes don’t start smoking and they don’t pull out axes, we’ll be fine.” Jay says.

They drive in silence, staring out at the many people as they robotically stand and stare at the car as it drives past, smiling all the way. They keep staring even as the car leaves the town, but nobody actually attacks. However, they do all start walking after it.

“They’re following us.” Calliope says. “Why are they following us?”

“Oh dear.” Jay says. “I think they’re going to spread out now.”

“Great.” John says.

They drive down towards the town containing Roxy’s house in silence. They’re well into town when Roxy stops the car, muttering “Oh fuck.”

“What?” John asks, looking forwards, and pauses. “They’re here too.”

There are indeed a great many humans and trolls standing at the end of the road, their eyes burning a bright orange colour, smoke trailing from them, axes, swords, and spears clutched in their hands, metal glinting in the moonlight.

“Out of the car.” Gamzee says.

“What? Why?” Roxy says.

“Because we’ll be sitting ducks in here if those things decide to go for us.” Gamzee says.

“They’re behind us too.” Calliope says.

“Case in point.” Gamzee says.

“But where will we go?” Roxy asks.

“I don’t know, anywhere that’s better!” Gamzee says.

So, they actually listen and the five of them step out of the car, standing out in the open and looking around for any sort of shelter. “Pub.” Jay suddenly says, pointing.

“Seriously Jay?” Gamzee says.

“What? It’s got a back door off the street.” Jay argues. “Come on.”

“Oh for-” Gamzee grits his teeth and gestures for the others to follow as Jay walks across the street and opens the door to the rather large bar across the street from them. The interior is big. There are several people sitting around, seemingly oblivious to the threat. As soon as they get inside, the figures down the road advance, walking forwards at a quick but orderly pace until they’re crowding around the building.

“And they’ve surrounded us.” John says.

John steps back into the group of Roxy, Calliope, and Gamzee. Jay finishes filling a pint glass with water and comes back over to them. Gamzee is staring at one person in particular across the bar. “What is it? What are you staring at?” Roxy asks. He gestures for her to look too.

Jade’s here too, apparently. Or rather, it looks like Jade. She’s got the trademark orange pupiled eyes that pretty much all of the K-R-Ignis mind slaves seem to have. She steps out of the crowd. “Sorry, but we got both these towns.” she says, and all around them, the many people in the bars stand and turn to face them. They have orange eyes too.

“Oh, great.” John says.

“Now,” Jade says, her eyes suddenly seeming to catch fire, “Shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?” she steps closer towards them as everyone else pulls out their own weapons, her included. “Because I would prefer if we do this the easy way, so if you would plea-”

Gamzee cuts her off by stepping forwards, grabbing her head, and breaking her neck. She collapses to the ground, and everyone else snarls. He raises his arms and the ‘bracers’ on them. On each of them, one of the metal pod-like objects near his elbows move their way down to his wrists and then form metal gauntlets over his hands. He yells, mostly for effect.

“I fucking  _ hate _ you, Ignis!” he screams. “I’m gonna slaughter all of you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's got personal issues with the pyromaniacs, in case you were wondering.  
> Also, bar fight time!


	11. Samsara much?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors attempt to escape Site-413

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This place is full of weird shit.

**TEAM READOUT**

Spec. Hradra

Spec. Hami

Spec. Hulliol

Spec. Hart

Sgt. Seamus Crocker

Sgt. “Moniker” Nepeta

Crp. “Deadbolt” Sollux

Pvt. Rose-15

Pvt. “Tekken” Dave

Pvt. Shusen

Pvt. Kelson

Pvt. Karkat-24

Pvt. John Staker

\+ 32 Civilians

“Moniker, you said that you discovered the device?” Hradra asks.

“Yeah, and my team left a beacon.” Moniker says, slightly mournfully. “You must have seen it.”

“Indeed we did.” Hami says.

“We have incoming.” Karkat-24 growls out as black fluid begins to seep out the walls and a whining noise echoes.

“The four of us will take the front.” Hradra says. “Moniker, Deadbolt, take the sides. Seamus, watch our backs. Everyone else, stay between us. Move out.”

They pack into a large diamond shape and begin to move through the halls as soon as Hradra blows up the thing behind the wall with his grenade launcher attachment. They walk through the eerie silence, occasionally hearing the grinding of gears in the distance, the sound of rushing water, or a low moaning.

“So, does this place really contain every SCP?” Moniker hesitantly asks.

“Yes.” Hart says.

“How, exactly? And why?” Moniker asks.

“December 31st, 2020, Tau-5. John Sarrus, the Administrator of UMF, arrives and kills Frederick Williams, the Administrator of SCP.” Hart says. “Every SCP that is not purged is unwritten. The information flow is cut and instead goes into the God Complex, filling it with every horror the Foundation has ever faced.”

“Wait, you mean there’s Site-13 in this repeat of Site-13?” Moniker asks, horrified.

“Indeed.” Hart says.

The first threat that they encounter on the way to the beacon is a man standing in the center of a four way intersection holding a red pen, somehow managing to scrawl words onto the wall, although they mostly read as gibberish. He sees them and pauses, slowly turning.

“Oh.” he says in a slow, tired voice. “Hello. What are you doing here?”

“You should come with us, we’ve come to save you.” Deadbolt says.

“He is not one of them.” Hulliol says. “Not anymore. He is something else.”

“I am inscribing the past.” the man says. “I must continue. I must-”

The ground suddenly opens beneath him and he falls into the resulting pit as dozens of creatures the size of wolves crawl out of the concrete, spreading like ants. They look like oversized lizards with blood red skin and blood stained teeth. They have no eyes and seem to smell their way around. They immediately sense the group, one of them growls, and they all charge, crawling over one another in a torrent, a wave of the things. The four cyborgs step forwards calmly and without fear, raising their weapons and letting loose. Minigun fire fills their ranks and shreds them. Several of them are blown to bits by grenades. Several dozen are shot through the skulls and die quickly. The ones that get close are scorched with fire. At the end of it all, corpses and blood and gore and brain matter litter the ground. Hradra lowers his grenade launcher, Hami lowers her flamethrower, Hulliol lowers his minigun, and Hart lowers her rifle.

“We cannot continue this way.” Hradra says as there’s a rumbling from below.

“What the fuck were those?” Shusen asks.

“Cancer creatures.” Hart says. “They will be everywhere.”

“We must find another route.” Hulliol says as the rumbling gets louder. The group backtracks fairly quickly before whatever was deeper in the pit erupts out of it to try and kill them.

They do have a fairly strange encounter where they pass a whole bunch of glass birds eating giant maggots who are in turn covered in mouths, but apart from that there is a strange peace and quiet for a while. They ignore that one room with the walls completely covered in screens showing people slowly turning into static as their skin peels off. They hide when the god of K-R-Ignis himself, Blaze, rounds the corner and stares in their general direction, seemingly sensing them, but chooses to leave them alone and continues onwards.

They soon reach a long dark room containing… nothing. Nothing but a single blue blinking light.

“There it is.” Hradra says, and then pauses.

“There is something on the ceiling.” Hart observes. One of the workers with them finds a light switch of some sort, turning on lamps that bathe the whole room in a green light, allowing everyone to see two things; A) there are hundreds of transparent spider-looking creatures with wings attached to the ceiling. B) there is no machine. The room is empty.

“What? Where’s the fucking Master Switch?” Kelson wonders aloud.

“Why isn’t it here?” Tekken shouts.

“I think I might know another place it could be.” Deadbolt says. “It’s a long shot, but it’s worth it.”

“Where is it?” Hradra asks. “Lead the way.”

“Hradra, I am detecting-” Hulliol starts to say, and is cut off as the far right wall caves in as a massive appendage crashes through. It’s a tentacle of some sort, covered in eyes and mouths. The eyes are bloodshot, and the teeth are sharpened. The appendage itself is a strange colour, a dark black mixed with a bloody red. A large maw full of layers upon layers of serrated teeth opens at the very end of the appendage and screams in sync with all of the other mouths, a sound that echoes through the facility. It turns to the group.

“Oh, fu-ck.” Seamus audibly swears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incoming.  
> This place _is_ full of weird shit.


	12. Escalation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several K-R-Ignis related fights break out. Ish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the self-harm tag? Yeah... eh.

The second last thing that the Crockercorp Rebellion never expected was for Crockercorp to suddenly cease all military action and pull out from every one of their occupied areas for seemingly no reason.

The first thing that the Crockercorp Rebellion never expected was for Jane Crocker herself to walk right up to one of the several bases of operations with her hands up and her nose bleeding.

Now, Rose, Karkat, Kanaya, and Meenah are busy standing around debating, for the first time in their lives, whether they should actually kill Jane Crocker. Sollux is there too, but he’s not really paying anyone any sort of attention. On the other side of the glass, Jane is sitting, twiddling her thumbs in the empty interrogation room.

“I say we put two in her head and be done with it.” Karkat argues.

“I wouldn’t say so.” Rose says.

“Do enlighten us as to why you think we _shouldn’t_ kill her?” Meenah asks.

“I doubt any of you have ever studied the symptoms of radiation poisoning.” Rose says.

“Not to offend you Rose, but how is that relevant?” Kanaya asks.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Rose mutters. “Well, none of you might know what it looks like, but I’m fairly certain that she’s got radiation poisoning.”

“Why?” Karkat asks.

“She’s tired, for one thing.” Rose says. “And not just from too many hours or whatever. She’s got a bloody nose that she does not seem to have dealt with whatsoever. She’s sickly looking, some of her hair is falling out, and she’s generally been repeating the word ‘Polonium’ every couple of minutes under her breath.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Karkat asks.

“It means she’s got radiation poisoning.” Rose explains. “And judging by her casual demeanor towards the whole thing, I’d say that she _chose_ this. As for Polonium, it is one of the most deadly metals on this planet. You could kill 50 million people with a gram of it.”

“Jegus.” Kanaya mutters. “You could kill all of Neo-Austin 50 times over.”

“Yeah.” Rose says. “And who knows how much she’s ingested. She could be dead in minutes.”

“So why should we care?” Karkat asks.

“Well the point is… we shouldn’t.” Rose says. “She’ll be dead either way.”

“What, so we just sit here and let her die?” Meenah asks.

“Well, I can personally attest that I wanted her to die painfully, and I imagine you did too.” Rose says. “So, let her die painfully. It’s probably excruciating.”

On the other side of the glass, Jane suddenly stands from her chair for a moment, pauses, and then doubles over, throwing up red all over the table before collapsing back into her seat and panting while she stares at the sky and mutters something unintelligible.

“Looks like it, yeah.” Karkat says with a surprisingly quiet voice.

* * *

Everyone has varying reactions when all hell breaks loose, mostly shock and confusion. Gamzee charges forwards, metal fist gauntlet-things raised. He punches the first Ignis drone that comes at him in the face, bashing their nose in and knocking them backwards. He knocks the second one in the side of the head and backhands the third. The second tries to get behind him, but he shrugs them off and keeps running towards the charging horde, backhanding the third one a second time for good measure. He caves in a fourth person’s forehead and whacks a fifth in the neck, sending them down. Turning around, he faces the first and the second one, breaking the second’s jaw with a punch and crashing in the first’s sternum, knocking them backwards at the feet of everyone else.

“Bloody hell.” Calliope says in remarkable surprise in what may be one of the first times she has ever swore in her life. Roxy whips out Bro’s Katana while John pulls his Vrillyhoo Hammer. Calliope has to hold someone back with her bare hands as all three of them get attacked. Jay actually doesn’t jump straight to fighting, instead opting to down her pint of ice cold water before someone crashes into her from behind, causing her to stumble forwards and stop drinking.

Gamzee throws a punch that collapses someone’s rib cage and crushes someone else’s chest with a second punch. He kicks away someone on the floor, breaks someone else’s nose, and then breaks their neck before knocking someone’s axe aside to shatter their left shoulder’s bones. He slams a troll’s head between a post and the metal fist, spraying jade blood everywhere before throwing someone backwards into a window and tripping another drone, before grabbing yet another one, smashing their teeth in, knocking them down, and then throwing them across the large bar room into a table, which breaks.

Calliope backs into Ignis Kanaya and gets tackled to the floor, an axe slowly being pressed towards her face. She’s seconds from death when Roxy comes out of nowhere and cuts Kanaya’s hand off, then lops her jaw off, before helping Calliope up.

“Sorry for being heavy.” Calliope comments.

“Don’t worry about it, that’s the least of your problems.” Roxy says.

Jay blocks an axe thrust at her using only her bare hand to grab the handle and headbutts the wielder before pulling the axe out of their hand and catching them in the gut with it, kicking someone behind her as she does. She gets a second or so to drink before someone attacks her from behind, nearly sticking an axe in her shoulder. She catches it with the axe she stole, elbows the person she kicked, then drops her axe in favour of ducking around back of her opponent and turning their axe onto their own throat, killing them. Another second of drinking before the person she kicked comes back for a third time, inciting her to grab one of the axes and just crash their head open in annoyance. She raises the glass to her mouth and gets a single sip before another person crashes into her and rams her into the wall, spilling some of her water, which she places onto the bar as she goes. They try and stab at her as she rolls along the wall, slashing one of her attackers’ throats and dodging the second’s sword swing. They swing again, causing their weapon to get embedded in the wall, and she buries the axe in their skull, pulling the sword from the wall and sauntering over to the bar to keep drinking her ice cold water. A sword clashes against hers, and water flies into the air for a brief second before she places it back onto the bar and duels with her new opponent, Ignis Gamzee, for a moment before she manages to behead him. She pushes aside another attacker and runs another one through, causing him to stumble backwards and slump dead against the wall, still holding her pint glass. As the one she might as well have slapped away comes back around, she simply rather lackadaisically swings her sword upwards and cuts their face in half vertically, and they stumble back choking on their own blood. She’s about to finish her pint glass of ice cold water when someone crashes right past her and knocks it to the ground, shattering it.

“MotherFUCK it!” Jay shouts, clambering over the bar to pour herself another cold water.

John knocks someone to the ground with his hammer. “I think I’m getting the hang of this!” he comments to Roxy right before he knocks someone else away from her and they go back to back. Someone goes at her but she cuts their chest open, and they stumble backwards. John knocks someone sideways and to the ground, hitting them again. Someone tries to cut his skull open, but he dodges and Roxy cuts their skull open.

“Jesus christ, do they ever stop!?” Roxy shouts as she beheads someone else and cuts someone else’s feet off. John uppercuts another drone with his hammer and sends them to the floor before slamming another one aside into the wall.

Gamzee’s left hand metal brace gets an axe lodged in it, saving him from losing his wrist. He headbutts the person and tears the axe out. Although the bracer remains, the thing holding the gauntlet itself is rendered useless, so he ejects the metal fist and it drops to the ground whereupon he pulls a soccer move and kicks it into someone’s face before grabbing onto someone else and struggling over to the bar as he hauls them, punching another drone’s face in.

“Gamzee!” Jay shouts as she finishes refilling her drink to halfway full.

“Yeah?” he half-shouts.

“Twist him!” she shouts.

He grabs the drone’s arm and twists with his free arm until it rips clean off. He throws it in what at first seems like a random direction, at least until it hits a drone before they cave Roxy’s skull in. What it doesn’t stop is the other drone behind her.

“Roxy.” a familiar voice says, and her blood goes cold. She slowly turns.

“Look at you. You really are a failure, aren’t you?” Ignis Dirk says. John goes for him, but Dirk evades him and knocks him on the back of the skull with the butt of his sword before grabbing Roxy by the throat. “I’m so disappointed in you.” he says. She knows it’s just a mind game, but it doesn’t hurt any less given that it’s wearing Dirk’s face.

Jay watches the spectacle, looks around the bar-turned-battlefield, and charges across it, knocking more than a few Ignis drones aside on her way before she reaches the two of them.

“STRIDER!!!” she shouts loudly, drawing Dirk’s attention just in time for him to receive a slash across the chest and crash over a table, collapsing it.

“Y’alright?” she asks Roxy, who nods. With her alternate self’s bff secured, she goes back to finishing her quarter-filled pint of water.

Gamzee punches another person in the sternum and breaks it before hitting someone else in the throat. He swings his arm and ejects his second gauntlet more out of convenience than damage, hitting someone else in the face, before grabbing another drone on the ground and kneeing them in the face. He grabs an axe and brings it down on a body, turning to the door just in time to see-

“Alright Gamzee,” Ignis Jade says, “Break it up.”

Surprisingly, he actually listens and steps back, dropping the axe and letting his exhaustion get to him. By now, all of the Ignis drones in the bar are dead, and everyone moves to the back as more of them file in.

“You used your second life just to get back at me?” Gamzee asks, his words laced with vitriol.

“No, I used my _fifth_ life to get back at _Jade_.” Jade says. “This timeline’s Jade.”

“How the fuck is she alive?” John asks. “Isn’t that your corpse on the ground?”

Ignis Jade looks down to see that her corpse is on the ground. She shrugs. “Everyone in each of the K-R Kingdoms gets multiple lives, and every single time we day, we just get stronger.”

“You know, as fun as it would be to do all that again to _you motherfuckers_ , I think we’re just going to leave, alright?” Gamzee asks. “Back door, now.” Calliope’s the first one to open the back door, which leaves them exposed to the night air and leads out into the woods. She runs out first, Roxy following her and John following her. Jay wavers on the threshold for a moment before running out too. Gamzee follows her, closing the door behind him, and joining the other four in sprinting through the woods. Jay stops for a moment to whisper something in Gamzee’s ear, and he gives her a quick kiss before she steps through a portal of some kind and vanishes. He keeps running after the other three of them.

* * *

When Karkat sees that Crockercorp has ceased most of its operations, he’s glad. What he’s not glad about is the a thousand or so strong force of axe-wielding pyromaniacs that are simply standing at the front door of the base he’s currently in. They’re not Crockercorp for sure, and they don’t seem to be anything else for that matter. They haven’t made any obvious moves to attack, all just standing there and staring. Jane is still captured in her interrogation room, sitting and staring as her health worsens. Rose, Kanaya, Meenah, and Sollux (sort of) join Karkat in watching the outside security cameras.

“They’re all just standing there.” Karkat mutters.

“So… are they going to do anything?” Kanaya wonders aloud.

“You’re not going to like it when they do do something.” Jay says when she suddenly steps into line next to them out of seemingly nowhere.

“What-who-where the fuck did you come from?” Karkat asks.

“Came through a portal.” Jay says. “It’s going to get pretty nasty.”

“Nasty?” Rose asks, and a moment later the whole metal door at the front of the base is blasted off its hinges in a burst of flame, sending it flipping backwards until it slams into the wall with a resounding _crash_ , crushing two trolls behind it in the process.

“Oh, shit.” Karkat says as alarms begin to blare and the axe-wielders walk in, look around, and then smile as their eyes burn and smoke emanates from them. They begin to spread through the base and chaos ensues.

“Shit is about to hit the fan.” Jay says, pulling out and cocking a shotgun.

* * *

Jade and Jake note that there are at least a hundred or so people standing outside John’s house holding axes, swords, spears, and all sorts of weapons. Simply staring and smiling. The two of them exchange a look. Ruby and Tavros are both asleep upstairs.

“What should we do?” Jake asks.

“Don’t let them hurt our kids, obviously.” Jade says.

“Right.” Jake says.

No attack comes, not for a while. But they know it’s going to happen sooner or later.

* * *

“Where’s Jay?” Roxy asks as Gamzee catches up to them.

“She went to help the rebellion.” Gamzee says, and the group resumes running, Calliope lagging the farthest behind. Thus, she’s the one who sees it when she turns.

“Calliope?” Roxy asks when she turns to see Calliope walking towards a figure in the woods.

“You look just like him.” Calliope mutters when she steps towards the thing wearing alternate Caliborn’s body. “You _are_ him.”

“Indeed I am.” Caliborn says with a calmness in his voice.

Rage bubbles up inside Calliope. She’s pissed off. She throws a punch and he stumbles aside.

“Callie!” Roxy shouts.

“I hate you!” Calliope shouts, knocking him to the ground and kicking his axe away. “You bastard! I hate you!”

“Calliope, leave him, it’s not worth it!” John shouts.

“YES IT IS!!!” Calliope shouts as she takes his axe and knocks his jaw off.

“I’ve never seen her like this.” Roxy says.

“Oh, shit.” John says when he sees the other Ignis drones approaching.

“Calliope, RUN!” Roxy shouts and John restrains her from running to the cherub.

Calliope finally stops shredding the now fairly dead Ignis Caliborn and looks down at the blood on her hands. “I…” she mutters. “I…” she looks around and realizes she’s surrounded.

Gamzee and John have to haul Roxy away from charging into the fray herself as dozens of drones swarm the cherub and obscure her from view. As they haul her out of the woods, her angry determination and paining sadness transform into a numbness as the fight goes out of her and she lets them drag her away as Calliope meets her end, alone and afraid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polonium poisoning. Nasty way to go.  
> Poor Calliope. There goes another one.


	13. All Hell Breaks Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping the God Complex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure if I know why it's called the God Complex.

**TEAM READOUT**

Spec. Hradra

Spec. Hami

Spec. Hulliol

Spec. Hart

Sgt. Seamus Crocker

Sgt. “Moniker” Nepeta

Crp. “Deadbolt” Sollux

Pvt. Rose-15

Pvt. “Tekken” Dave

Pvt. Shusen

Pvt. Kelson

Pvt. Karkat-24

Pvt. John Staker

\+ 32 Civilians

Bullets fly through the air and the giant tentacle-thing covered in mouths thrashes around. The spider-esque things on the ceiling, transparent as they are, are seen flying down and attacking the thing with their ‘claws’. It deals with them by biting at them with its many mouths and consuming most of them. The civilians move behind the soldiers as they lay down covering fire so the others can escape through the door at the end of the room. As the soldiers begin to escape, the appendage finally lashes out at them, knocking Private Karkat-24 across the room, shattering his bones against the wall, whereupon it snaps him up in one of its many mouths.

“Fuck.” Deadbolt mutters as they escape. “Fuck!” he shouts louder. “24…”

“I am sorry, but we do not have time to grieve.” Hart says. “Which way might the device be?”

“Right.” Deadbolt says. “This way.” he leads them along.

They move through the facility as a rumbling sound echoes through it. Something massive is moving through the depths, heading up. They pass a truly massive empty room full of scrap where, instead of a wall, there is a massive yellow eye, simply staring at them. There is a growling noise as it follows them with its gaze, but nothing comes of it. They pass a room filled with water up to the knees, bodies and old machinery beneath. There are other things, things that look like pale eels, dancing through the water. They pay the group no mind.

_Clang_

_Clang_

_Draga Draga_

_Crash_

_Clang_

“What the fu-ck is that?” Seamus wonders aloud.

There’s a mech-walker of some kind in the corner of a disused storage room with a scientist looking man sitting inside, muttering to himself things like “I saw a fly once.” as he clears away scrap metal with the robot’s shovel-like arms. He sees them. “Hello, hello, hello. Destruction shall entrap this Earth.” without another word, he goes back to rummaging through scrap.

“Come on.” Hradra says. “He too has been taken by this place.”

They continue on without a word and without incident, at least until they pass a dark figure walking the hallways that the cyborgs refer to as The Dark Sun of Omega-001, which apparently got here because of rifts and seems to like this place or else it would have left by now.

“God Cells.” Hulliol reads off of a sign as they descend down a flight of stairs. “Are these what I think they are, Corporal Deadbolt?”

“You bet.” The Sollux says. “I passed through this area and found a secondary zone where the machine could have gone in event of something disastrous happening above.”

“Surprised it didn’t do that earlier.” Shusen comments in his high pitched voice.

“This place is ever changing, innit?” Staker says. “Could be anywhere.”

“This is our best option at the moment.” Hradra says.

The group, 44 strong, finally reaches the bottom of the stairs and finds themselves in a tremendously long room. It seems to stretch on forever, extending out into the distance. There are no ceiling lights, only blue ones on the floors that cast the whole place in a deep azure glow. Along the walls, there are doors. Massive doors. Massive steel gates of doors leading into presumably massive cells. They go on for what looks like miles, fading into the distance.

“This is where the gods of XX-Beta-12 are, the 41 god-muses.” Rose-15 says in disbelief.

“Along with every other god the Foundation captured.” Shusen says.

“Plus everything that got lost in between worlds.” Staker adds.

“We need a plan.” Hradra says.

“Shit, what are we gonna…” Tekken mutters.

“I’ve got a plan.” Moniker says. “Here’s the deal; Hulliol, Hart, see these doors? Open them.”

“Open them?” Hulliol asks.

“Are you crazy? Do you have _any_ idea what’s in there!?” 15 shouts.

“Shut up, please.” Moniker says with surprising calm. “Any two of them will do.”

“Understood.” Hulliol says, and he and Hart go over two of the other doors and begin to fiddle with the panels that are next to them.

“Can anyone see that opening in the wall?” Moniker asks, pointing forwards.

“That’s where the Master Switch is!” Deadbolt says.

“It’s also our exit.” Moniker says. “I feel it. Seamus, your team needs to get these civilians out to the surface, Hami, you need to go with them. Staker, you too.”

“You got it.” Seamus says.

“Deadbolt, Hradra, with me.” Moniker says. “We’re going to flip that switch and catapult this whole damn facility out of this world. Now, is everyone clear?”

Nobody really gets a chance to give their all clear signals because the wall suddenly crashes in as something truly massive crashes into it and collapses it.

“The Cancer.” Hradra mutters.

“Open fire!” Seamus shouts, and everyone starts shooting even as they run backwards.

The thing, in question, is massive. It’s a giant mass of flesh that looks to be hundreds of feet tall, a strange mix between a dark black colour and a fleshy red. It’s dripping with fluids of all sorts, mainly a black liquid and lots of blood. A red frothy paste also is tracked behind the snake-like creature, which is covered in eyes and mouths, with one large lamprey-like mouth on its head. Red tentacles are all over it. This is an entity composed of the melded bodies of the 41 god muses, who now exist in a different form after being separated from this entity.

“I have it.” Hulliol says as he opens the first cell. “This should work.”

“I have another.” Hart adds as she opens the fifth one. “I think that should do it.”

“ _Releasing Cells 1 and 5,_ ” a robotic voice says over an intercom, only partially audible over the screaming of the Cancer. “ _Zephyrus and Damma._ ”

The first massive metal door starts to slide open, growing redder and redder as the heat increases, until it melts into a magmatic paste that splatters all over the floor. Stepping out of its cell and into the larger chamber is an angelic figure holding a flaming sword of some sort. Its face is mostly lost in fire, but it's screaming in fury is audible as it attacks the Cancer. The fifth cell door slides open, frosty air filling the room as a second creature steps out. It resembles a giant deer, but with rounded points instead of hooves. It slowly turns its head and looks down at the people, simply nodding at them once before charging towards the Cancer. It is strange, because it appears as though it is looking at them the way a person would look at an ant, while simultaneously acknowledging their presence as important. However, the group does not have time to ponder upon it as they begin charging towards the hole in the wall where one of the cells should be. Behind them, the three titans tear at each other.

“This is so meta!” Shusen shouts as they run.

“Think about it later, Shusen!” Seamus shouts back.

The Cancer struggles its way past the two gods attacking it and goes after the team, seeming intent on dealing with them. As black fluid spreads across the blue lit floor, Moniker slips. “No, fuck, no, no, no, no, fuck, no, no, FUCK!!!” The Nepeta shouts before she gets drenched by the liquid and covered in it, being crushed under one of the Cancer’s many red tentacles shortly afterwards. At the same time, Hami gets knocked against the wall by another tentacle and is burned by the presence of the angelic figure.

“Moniker, Hami!” Deadbolt shouts. “Shit, we’re going to need another plan!”

“Deadbolt, if you will lead me, I can-” Hradra starts to say before a bit of the ceiling suddenly collapses and crushes him beneath it, killing him.

“God-ammit!” Deadbolt shouts in a panic. “Fuck!” he shouts. As the group reaches the hole in the wall, the room splits two ways. The civilians run towards the door that in turn leads to a set of stairs that leads up, the soldiers protecting them. However, Deadbolt has no choice but to run the second way, heading down another set of stairs towards a machine of sorts. Hulliol wavers on the threshold for a moment before charging after him. Hart considers helping but elects to help Seamus, Rose-15, Tekken, Shusen, Kelson, and Staker get the 32 civilians out.

The Cancer continues to chase after Deadbolt and Hulliol specifically, trying to stop them before they reach the machine and flip the Master Switch. It looks like a giant box, frankly, especially given that Deadbolt isn’t paying much attention to the aesthetics of it, and more looking for the switch. As the angelic figure and the giant deer come after the Cancer, it continues to lash whatever tentacles it can at the two people trying to flip the switch. They succeed, so the Cancer decides to just kill them. The machine begins to hum and Deadbolt laughs, flipping off the three gods now that they’ve gotten themselves wedged into this area. Hulliol continues to shoot the Cancer, but it whips a tentacle and rips him in half, splattering the top half of his body against the wall, leaving it covered in red. Deadbolt swears and keeps shooting until his back is against the machine and it’s glowing white. In a flash of light, they’re all gone.

Outside, Staker, Kelson, Shusen, Tekken, Rose-15, Seamus, and Hart get the civilians out of the facility just in time for it to shimmer and vanish from reality. A silence of a sort falls.

“Well there goes Site-413.” Copper comments.

“It’s over.” Brass mutters. “It’s really over.”

“Not yet it ain’t.” Copper says. “We still have to go clear out K-R-Ignis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, all that worked.  
> Yes expendable-side-character Shusen, this is meta.  
> As for running gags, people pronouncing "Goddammit" as "God-ammit" in two words instead of one will probably become a strange recurring joke throughout this series.


	14. Ignis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis launches an all-out assault with varying levels of success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit is about to hit the fan.

John, Roxy, Vriska, Vrissy, Harry, and Gamzee are sitting around in Roxy’s house as at least a couple hundred Ignis drones stand around the building staring inside. Apparently, they could attack at any time for seemingly no reason, but so far they’ve shown no signs of aggression, apart from the fact that they’re all carrying melee weapons. As for the people inside, Vriska and John each have shotguns, while Vrissy has a miniature chainsaw with a blade probably only about a foot long. Gamzee’s got one attached to his left arm brace with a strange gun-like object on his right arm’s brace.

“So, what’s our plan?” John asks.

“Hunker down and wait for UMF to arrive?” Gamzee suggests.

“You mean something that will keep us alive.” Vriska says.

“Yes, hunker down and wait for UMF to arrive.” Gamzee says. “That’s the best we’ve got, you know that, right? Because we’re not going to be able to stop the things out there from attacking us sometime before then. In fact, the best we can do is prepare.”

“Well, they shouldn’t be too hard, right?” John asks. “We dealt with them pretty easily back there. Why should these ones be any different.”

“Because they were going at us one at a time, and they were letting us win.” Gamzee says. “These ones… we’re in the endgame of this. This will be over by morning. They’re gonna tear us to bits. They’re gonna shred us.”

“Real encouraging, man.” Vrissy says.

“The truth and nothing but the truth,” Gamzee says. “That’s all it is.”

“No.” John says. “We’ve got to survive. Why wouldn’t we? We’re strong. We can win.”

“Not with six people.” Gamzee says.

_ Crash _

Everyone’s heads whip around as an Ignis drone crashes through one of the windows and grabs Harry Anderson around the neck. He yells in panic and gets hauled halfway outside.

“HARRY!!!” Roxy screams and runs over, grabbing his legs. John and Vrissy do the same, and Vriska and Gamzee watch in horror as Harry Anderson screams and gets his stomach axed in, ripping it open and Roxy echoes his screams. Then, John and Roxy lose their grips on his legs and he drops out of sight, the Ignis drones axing at him as he lies on the ground. Vrissy, John, and Roxy all have tears in their eyes, but it’s Roxy who actually takes any action about Harry, running over to the front door and drawing her katana.

“ROXY, NO!!!” Gamzee shouts. “THEY WANT YOU TO-!!!”

Roxy cuts him off by wrenching the door open and screaming “I’M COMING, HARRY!!!” before decapitating three Ignis drones at once and vanishing into the crowd of them.

“Oh, dear.” Gamzee says aloud as another window is shattered in the next room and Ignis drones pile in through both broken windows as well as the now open door, smiling as they go. Most of them have bloody weapons. John picks up his shotgun and joins Gamzee in dealing with those that come from the door while Vrissy prepares to slash at drones coming in through the second window while Vriska raises her gun to shoot at them.

Gamzee raises his gun-thing and fires at the same time that John’s first shot ricochets off an axe with a  _ pkow _ . A lightning-esque bolt of energy arcs forwards and strikes his target in the chest, blowing them apart into a gorey mess.

“Holy shit!” John shouts in surprise at the weapon’s capabilities and fires a second time as Vriska blows someone’s head open in the other room. His shot hits a drone in the shoulder, and they simply smile at him just like the rest. Gamzee fires a second time whilst sawing a drone’s skull in half with his mini-chainsaw, blowing up a second person, this one a rust blood troll.

“Stay back!” Vriska shouts more in panic than anger as she and Vrissy get pushed back into the main room with everyone else, nearing the stairwell at the end of the room. She fires again and hits someone in the chest. John finally gets a shot and takes down a drone with a headshot, but even still it’s not enough. Gamzee takes aim and pulls the trigger. An error noise sounds out, signifying a misfire.

“What?” he mutters, and smacks it against his other arm. “Come on!” He cuts someone’s throat with his chainsaw and keeps backing up. “Fuck!” next to him, John hits a drone in the shoulder, barely slowing them down.

“I can’t hold them!” Vriska shouts as she cocks the gun again and Vrissy cuts someone’s arm off. John empties his clip and mutters something as Vriska breaks a drone’s neck with her bare hands, still trying to reload. Vrissy yells in panic as several arms grab her and start to pull her into the horde of hyped up pyromaniac axe junkies as John whacks someone in the jaw with the stock of his shotgun, being forced to let it go as they drag it out of his hands.

“Vrissy!” Vriska shouts in a panic as she reloads her gun. Gamzee swings his chainsaw and it gets lodged in someone’s chest, whereupon they use the opportunity to smash its connection to the bracer and the drone’s corpse drops to the ground, bringing the chainsaw with it. So, he unfolds the last weapon in his left bracer, a device similar to the one on his right arm. Vrissy struggles out of the grasp of the horde of Ignis drones.

“Uncle John, Vriska, not to salt old wounds, but look who it is!” she calls, stepping back and letting her chainsaw dangle at her side as the Ignis drone of Terezi steps out of the horde.

“Holy fuck!” John shouts, and Terezi smiles.

“Didn’t see this coming, did ya!” the teal blood says.

Everything slows down for Vriska.

It looks just like her.

_ It looks just like her. _

**It looks just like her.**

Her thoughts catch up with her when Vrissy knocks Terezi’s axe aside with her chainsaw but gets the weapon grabbed by the handle and forced down towards her. Vrissy gets a split second to shout “Oh shit!” before the teeth of the weapon enter her left collarbone and she starts screaming in pure agony as it chews through her, splattering her blue blood everywhere.

“NO!” Vriska screams in a panic, raising her gun.

“Vriska, c’mon!” John shouts, already knocking back a drone with his hammer.

“Vrissy!” Vriska screams, trying to decide whether to shoot or not.

“Fuck, I can’t get a clear shot!” Gamzee curses, gunning three drones next to him with the weapon on his left arm and managing to fire a small energy bolt that gives a fourth drone a shock using the weapon on his right. Vrissy continues to scream.

“Terezi!” Vriska shouts. “Let her go!”

Terezi actually turns to look at her and shouts “Can’t let her go unless you let  _ me _ go!” before going back to pressing the chainsaw into Vrissy’s chest, breaking a whole clean through to the other side as the thing breaks through her back and leaves her left arm dangling uselessly.

In that moment, Vriska makes a decision.

She has to save Vrissy, probably the only person left in this whole universe on the same wavelength who gets her.

She has to do this if she’s going to save her descendant.

She has no idea what the lasting psychological effects of what she’s about to do will be.

“PYROPE!” she screams in a way that actually gives the drone Terezi pause. “I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!!!” Vriska shouts, taking aim.

What happens next is something that will give her nightmares for years to come.

_ Blam _

Ignis Terezi stumbles back in shock that Vriska actually just shot her through the right eye, turning back and realizing that her brain matter is painting the walls. “Oh…” she gets out right before she collapses to the ground, dead.

“Vrissy!” Vriska shouts as Gamzee mutters  _ fuck it _ and sprays energy bolts everywhere from his rapid fire left hand device, taking down several drones. He grabs Vrissy and practically hauls her back to the stairs, whereupon Vriska half-carries her up to the second floor where John already is. Gamzee fires a shot from his person-liquifier gun and only gets out a single lightning bolt like shot that stops one drone’s heart with a single shot and ricochets onto another drone, simply causing them to stumble in surprise.

As he runs up to the top of the stairs, he whips out a thing resembling a signal flare with a mostly red body and a second blue tip on its end. He cracks open the top using only his teeth and waves it in the air, leaving a red trail of light. He then cracks open the blue tip, igniting the red light into a blue flame that falls and covers the top of the stairs entirely. One of the drones tries to touch it but hisses and shrinks back when their hand is hit with a freezing cold feeling. The energy cell to the weapon on his right arm has been heating up every since he fired it a final time, and it begins to burn his arm.

“Ow, ow!” he shouts, trying to eject it before his wrist catches fire. “Fck-fuck it!” he shouts, throwing the malfunctional energy cell into the blue flames and charges into the room just beyond, the bedroom, and throwing himself behind the bed where John, Vriska, and Vrissy are.

“What are we gonna do, where are we gonna go!?” Gamzee shout-asks as he loads another energy cell for his right arm weapon. John looks around and sees the closet.

“Attic!” he shouts, pointing. “There might be a way out!”

“What do you mean, go back outside!?” Vriska shouts.

_ Crash _

Directly across from them, the second floor window shatters, as the drones appear to have climbed up to the second floor. “Oh, give us a fucking BR8K!” Vriska shouts. Just then, the discarded energy cell suddenly explodes for seemingly no reason, despite being thrown into cold fire which should have cooled it down. Regardless of the cause, energy bolts are sent flying through the room, blowing holes in the walls and striking all of the people climbing up. One of them gets his face electrocuted off and he falls. Another one gets zapped and falls. The third gets a shot that blows a miniscule hole in their left temple and they collapse halfway in, halfway out. The fourth one, Ignis John, gets a perfect circular hole blown in his chest, annihilating his heart. He looks down as if only just realizing the injury exists, and then groans and keels over, dead at their feet.

“GO!” the three still conscious people shout at once. Vrissy’s slipped into a strange state of unconsciousness by now. As the other three make their way over to the closet, opening it and tugging open the ceiling entrance to the attic, Gamzee stands and readies his two weapons. His first shot, a rapid fire, puts two in the chest of someone who made it past the cold flames. His second is aimed at the window, blowing apart a second drone.

“Aha, must have just been the cell that was faulty.” Gamzee mutters. Behind him, Vriska climbs up first. “Perfect.” he says, taking aim again.

Another two drones walk in through the doorway, and he fires a shot with his right hand weapon. The energy beam passes directly in between both of them but grazes them nonetheless. The one on the left gets the entire right side of his head exploded, and the other one gets his left arm blown off. As the first one goes down, the second hisses and clutches his arm. Vriska and John work together to get Vrissy up into the attic.

A third person emerges from the doorway and two more have arrived at the window, one having just entered the room and the other still crawling in. So, he sweeps wide with his left weapon, taking down the armless second person, filling the face of the fourth with holes, and knocking the fifth off of the ledge. The third gets a single shot in the arm only, so he finishes them off with a blast that explodes them apart just as John climbs into the attic too.

“Gamzee, come on!” John shouts.

“I…” Gamzee mutters as two more drones approach from both the window and the doorway, meaning that apparently the blue flames only did so much, if not next to nothing. “Shit!” he mutters, simply spraying his ammo in a wide arc as he backpedals, taking care of the four targets as he starts to clamber up into the attic. An axe nearly misses lodging itself in his calf, and they swing the attic door closed, shrouding them in darkness.

* * *

Dozens of bodies lay at Kanaya’s feet as she winds down her chainsaw for a moment while rebellion troops secure the room. Ignis drone corpses include alt-Roxy, alt-Karkat, and alt-Vriska. Rose goes over to Kanaya.

“I couldn’t reach her.” Rose says.

“Oh god.” Kanaya says. “Do you think she could be…”

“She’ll be fine.” Rose says. “She can handle herself. And she’s got Vriska, John, Roxy, Harry, and that one weird alternate Gamzee with her.”

“Right.” Kanaya says.

“I just realized,” Karkat says as he goes over to them, “We never got Jane out of that one area.”

“Shit.” Rose says. “Well, she’ll be dead either way.”

“Yeah, we really shouldn’t care.” Meenah says. “She’s a bitch, and we’ll all be happy when she’s dead. Good riddance.”

“Where’s Jay, by the way?” Rose asks.

“She’s trying to reach somebody named Copper.” Karkat says.

“What for?” Rose asks.

“Hell if I know.” Karkat says.

Elsewhere, Jane Crocker walks past all of the Ignis drones as her hair falls out in little clumps and blood streams from her mouth and nose, turning the bottom half of her face red. She walks right out past them, heading for a hill or somewhere that she can watch the sunset.

* * *

Jake slams an Ignis drone’s head against the wall of John’s house as he stands in front of Tavros, while Jade is over in the next room defending Ruby using her space powers. He’s bloody and battered, but he’ll be damned before he lets anyone touch his son. Judging by which Ignis drones he’s seen coming into the house, she’s most likely dealing with her Ignis double. He has to contend with Ignis Jane and Jake.

“Tavros, stay behind me son.” he says.

“Well hello there, double.” Ignis Jake says.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Jake says.

The two of them rush him and he holds up his own stolen axe and waits for them to charge him. He dodges Jane’s first attack and manages to crash alt-Jake’s head in with his blade shortly before Jane sticks a knife between his shoulder blades before pulling it out trying to cut his throat. He shoves her back and she knocks the axe out of his hand. She presses him onto the ground, slowly pushing the knife towards his throat.

“That was anticlimactic.” Jane notes. “Look at you. Weak as ever. Hmm.” she turns to Tavros. “Look away, you won’t want to see this.” she turns back to Jake, pressing the knife towards his throat. It’s inches away. He’ll be dead any second now. Right?

No.

_ Fuck that _ he thinks. He’s going to live.

“You may not be her, but you look just like her.” Jake says. “And that’s good enough for me.”

“What are you talking about?” Jane asks, cautiously.

“I’m done with you pushing me around, Jane.” Jake says. He grabs the knife before it stabs into his throat and wrenches it clean, grabbing her by the throat and she gasps. He throws her aside, grabs the axe on the ground and then slashes her to death with it.

“Huh.” he says afterwards. “That was anticlimactic.”

Jade finishes off her Ignis double and is about to take down the last Ignis drone when she sees who it is and goes cold.

“Hey Jade.” Dave says. “I got your tongue?” he asks.

“Dave…” Jade whispers.

“That’s right.” Dave says, before flaring with fire and launching forwards, knocking her backwards and through the wall, out onto the hill behind John’s home. She groans and stands. Dave touches down opposite her. “Now then,” he says, cracking his knuckles, “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

He raises his hands, and two bolts of fire fly at her. She dodges to the side of the first but gets the second in her right shoulder, scorching it. She hisses, trying to put it out using her hands alone. He lets fire flow from his hands and she just dodges, narrowly avoiding the flames.

“Jade!” Jake calls as he runs over.

“Oh fuck off, this is my fight!” Dave shouts and lets loose a gout of flame at Jake, causing him to yell in pain and stumble back down the hill. He switches out from flame powers and pulls out a sword of some kind, although it is wreathed in fire. He smiles and swings at Jade, who gets nicked in the cheek as she tries to dodge his attacks and block what she can using her space powers. At some point, Dave gets tired of repeating the same dance and punches her away, knocking her onto her stomach. He swings his sword, catches her under the chin, and flips her onto her back, gasping for breath. Plus, there’s now a gash in her chin. He tosses the sword aside and simply backhand punches Ruby when they come running up in a fury. Dave picks Jade up and smiles as he chokes her. Her vision begins to fade and she gasps for breath. And that’s when both of them see it.

A red target on the drone’s left shoulder. A moment later, a bullet rips through it, rendering his arm useless. He drops Jade and stumbles back. He looks up at his attacker. “Oh for the love of-” he doesn’t get the rest of the sentence out because his head gets blown open.

Hart strides over to the corpse and stabs it for good measure. “Double tap.” she says aloud. “Can never be too careful with these people. Are you alright?” he asks.

“I’ll live.” Jade says as she goes over to Ruby. Jake is already coming up the hill with Tavros. “You also look like me. Who are you?” Jade asks.

“My name is Hart.” Hart says. “I am just a soldier. I do apologize I could not arrive earlier, but I was tending to other civilians. This will be over soon.”

* * *

Rose, Sollux, Karkat, Kanaya, Meenah, and Jay are prepared to make a last stand of sorts along with two dozen or so rebellion soldiers, when the Ignis drones clanging axes are overwhelmed by the sound of gunfire. The door opens, and instead of an army of doubles, a John with a shotgun and red hair steps out.

“Hey fellas.” he casually says.

“Copper!” Jay says, walking over and smiling. “It’s alright. UMF came through.”

“You bet we did.” Copper says. “And the real John will be fine too, as will your husband.”

* * *

There was no exit out of the attic of Roxy’s house, and since Vrissy was too badly injured they elected to try and keep her alive and hunker down in the dark. It’s not long, however, before they hear the unmistakable noise of gunshots. Gamzee stands. “Is that who I think it is…?” he says. The attic entrance opens and a head pops up.

“Hey, laddie.” Brass says. “Don’t you worry. It’s over now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some psychological torment, Vriska.  
> Fun fact (?) I based the bedroom fight on my parents' bedroom layout.  
> Thanks for saving our asses UMF.


	15. It's Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized, the chapter names have been progressively more and more serious.

The remaining Ignis forces were cleared out in the span of a couple of minutes, too caught off guard to expect large amounts of gunfire behind them. Now, nearly all of them have been cleared out by UMF forces and the rest of them have either charged to their deaths or failed at sneak attacking the organization. Now, nothing’s really left of them.

John and Roxy find each other while Harry is resurrected by some of the last resurrection tech not ‘shipped out for Golf’. They cry as they hug him.

Calliope is also revived and has a heartfelt reunion with Roxy, but she still feels a little bit off after what just happened.

Vrissy is spared from death by some last minute healing magic and she gets back to her parents, who are ever so happy that she survived.

Vriska gets lost in her own thoughts. She doesn’t feel like discussing what she had to do to save Vrissy, opting to bottle it up rather than say anything about it.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Death Bringer.” Copper says as a brunette woman steps out of a portal towards him. Anyone might recognize her as Libra, the Director of the Solomon Project. “You really came out here yourself, didn’t you?”

“Too bad I missed the party.” Libra says. “Shame. That would have been fun.”

“What, because you’d get to turn back into a dragon?” Brass asks.

“Yeah, actually.” Libra says. “A valid reason.”

“Plus, you’d get to keep your original gender.” Copper says.

“Personally, I couldn’t actually care less about being forcibly trans-ed.” Libra says. “Or whatever you humans call it. I just wish I could use my old body more.”

“Read it and weep.” Copper says.

“You’re stuck like that lassie.” Brass says.

“Oh, Brass, by the way, I have to go find Ouroboros.” Copper says.

“You do that lad.” Brass says as Copper walks off.

“I still can’t believe you made only four super powered cyborgs.” Libra says.

“Don’t look at us, look at Tau-5.” Brass says. “Besides, they were made from a dead god.”

Elsewhere, Copper finds Hart discussing the outcome of the mission with Hulliol, Hami, and Hradra. They turn to Copper. “We were discussing the mission, having returned using our extra bodies from Endstuck.” Hradra says.

“Yes, I’m aware.” Copper says. “I also was aware that this was a pit-stop of some kind. You had another mission, didn’t you?”

“Chasing down the thing that caused the Universe “Five” Incident.” Hradra says.

“Interesting. Might want to get on that.” Copper says, walking off.

“Shade ditched his ship and let it continue on to Universe “Four”.” Hradra says. “I do not understand as to why?”

“Even more confusing, why did he circle back around to a second timeline?” Hami asks. “If his reprogrammed subconscious wanted to get to Universe “Four”, why did it stop?”

“We’ll have to find out.” Hradra says, and the four of them step through a rift, heading for the timeline that Shade is already going after.

“I’ve got no way to apologize.” Jane says as Jay sits down next to her, both of them watching the sun set. It’s a beautiful scarlet red against the fading orange sky. “I did unforgivable things. And I can’t make an acceptable apology.”

“Sorry.” Jay says.

“Shit.” Jane says. “I fucked up. At least the sunset’s nice and pretty.” she pauses. “Oh well. G-guess this is it.” she goes limp just like that.

“Bye Jane.” Jay says, standing and walking off.

* * *

Jane Harley and Gamzee Makara returned to the so-called Universe “Four”, while the rest of the soldiers shipped out;

Generals Brass and Copper led Operation Occupation to victory and continued to operate on Golf-213 for months.

Sergeant Seamus Crocker, Private Shusen, and Private Kelson were not assigned to Golf-213 operations and instead focused on mitigating other threats.

Private Rose-15 left Seamus’ squad and was killed on her first day in Golf-213 during Operation Occupation.

Private “Tekken” Dave left Seamus’ squad and vanished into the wilds on his 62nd day in Golf-213.

Private John Staker left Seamus’ squad and was killed on his 44th day in Golf-213 by a sentinel.

As for the timeline that suffered the Ignis assault and the presence of the God Complex, they managed. With Jane Crocker gone, something that UMF neglected to fix for expensive reasons, they fixed everything up and dealt away with Crockercorp. Things went back to normal.

Of course, this timeline is far from important in the grand scheme of things.

What is important are the four cyborgs chasing Shade, and the timeline he’s destroying.

~~The Inevitable End of All But Me~~

~~XX-Beta-12~~

~~The Solomon Project~~

~~Act I: Ascendance~~

~~Act II: Defyers~~

Act III: Protectors

Act IV: Controllers

Intermission: Zero Day

Act V Act I: Shade

Act V Act II: Shatter

> Fiction to Reality

Golf-213

Dimensional Drabbles

Endstück

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for proper timeline cleanup. Fix some things, but not the others.  
> Go, cyborgian beta kids!

**Author's Note:**

> Too bad about the Crockercorp people just doing their jobs. Not everyone there is bad.


End file.
